It’s time again for the annual ‘Stella Awards’! For those
Unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck
Who spilled hot coffee on hersel f and successfully sued the McDonald’s in
New Mexico where she purchased the coffee. You remember, she took the lid
Off the Coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving.
Here are the Stella’s for the past year:
7TH PLACE :
Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded ,000 by a
Jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was
Running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably
Surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.
6TH PLACE :
Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles , California won ,000 plus
Medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda
Accord. Truman apparently didn’t notice there was someone at the wheel of the
Car when he was trying to steal his neighbor’s hubcaps.
Go ahead, grab your head scratcher.
5TH PLACE :
Terrence Dickson, of Bristol , Pennsylvania , who was leaving a
House he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for
Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get
The garage door to open. Worse, he couldn’t re-enter the house because the
Door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it
Shut. Forced to sit for eight, count ‘em, EIGHT, days on a case of
Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner’s insurance
Company claiming undue mental anguish.
Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson
0,000 or his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish.
Keep scratching. There are more…
4TH PLACE :
Jerry Williams, of Little Rock , Arkansas , garnered
4th Place in the Stella’s when he was awarded ,500 plus
Medical expenses fter being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor’s
Beagle – even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner’s fenced yard.
Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the
Beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams
Had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog
With a pellet gun.
Grrrrr. Scratch, scratch.
3RD PLACE :
Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered
A Philadelphia restaurant to pay her 3,500 after she slipped on
A spilled soft drink and broke her tailbone The reason the soft drink was
On the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds
Earlier during An argument.
Whatever happened to people being responsible for their own
Actions?
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Hang in there; there are only two
More Stellas To go….
2ND PLACE :
Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night
Club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the
Floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was
Trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the .50
Cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her
,000….oh, yea h, plus dental expenses. Go figure.
1ST PLACE : (May I have a fanfare played on 50 kazoos please)
This year’s runaway First Place Stella Award winner was Mrs.
Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, who purchased a new
32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU
Football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at
70 mph and calmly left the driver’s seat to go to the back of the Winnebago
To make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the
Freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski
Sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner’s manual that she
Couldn’t actually leave the driver’s seat while the cruise control was set.
The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down, ,750,000 PLUS
a new motor Home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this
Suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor
Home.
Are we, as a society, getting more stupid…? Ya think??!!
This e-mail has made me very depressed that I live in such a world.
What do you think of this?
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